Khushed Dastoor, a high priest of the Parsi community has been appointed as the Zoroastrian representative on the National Commission for Minorities. His appointment comes amidst the bickering within the community over nomination of Dinshaw Tamboly, a liberal member. Interestingly, Mr Dastoor, who is the high priest of Udvada fire temple is also known for his liberal approach.

Soon after the news came out on Wednesday evening about the centre appointing five members on the NCM including Mr Dastoor, the community got talking about how it was a “big setback to the orthodox groups”. “Vada dasturji Khurshed Dastoor’s appointment is in the right direction. We are very happy about it,” said Vispy Wadia, co-founder of Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism adding that the high priest has often taken a stand on allowing Parsi women married outside the faith to enter the fire temples. “He is the youngest of all out high priests. He is extremely progressive,” said Mr Wadia.

Mr. Tamboly had received support from Parsi Zoroastrians across the world who wrote letters favorring him. Even the chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, the largest body of Parsis, Yazdi Desai, recommended Mr Tamboly’s name in January 2017 however withdrew his recommendation last week. The withdrawal started a series of debates in the social media platforms. However, Mr Dastoor’s name sprung a surprise as the community was unaware that he was in the running.

I was at a modern food superstore in Bandra, Mumbai’s swish suburb, the other day. I walked past rows of imported gourmet cheeses, pastas and meats when I suddenly spotted a group of blue coloured packs which looked as if they were cheerfully waving at me. A closer inspection showed that they were packs of the homegrown Parsi Dairy ghee. I am a Bengali married to a Parsi as you probably know. I remembered that Freddy (Firoz) Kerawala, my maternal uncle-in-law, is a big advocate of the Parsi Dairy Farm butter and ghee. I decided to buy a pack of ghee for home to add to my stock of Jharna ghee from Kolkata as a tribute to the spirit of what Parsi author Meher Pestonji referred to as “mixed marriage”.

Mumbai’s heritage brand, the Parsi Dairy Farm’s products have made a welcome entry into the world of modern retail these days. Its packaged butters, cheeses, kulfis and lassis are to be found proudly jostling for space with dairy products from multinational companies and imported brands in these stores. Its kulfisare served by the SodaBottleOpenerWala restaurant chain in their outlets across the country. Thanks to such initiatives, one can expect this 100 year-old institution to get a fresh lease of life. There was an outburst of heartfelt anguish in response to the news of the Parsi Dairy Farm allegedly shutting down sometime back.The Parsi Dairy Farm and its legacy is integral to many Mumbai memories and stories after all. My late father-in-law, Mr. Marzban Bilimoria, for example, loved the kulfis of Parsi Dairy Farm. His eyes would light up when these were served at Parsi weddings. He loved these so much that my wife and my mother-in-law would happily give their shares to him. His smile post the kulfi was typical of that of a happy Parsi Dairy Farm customer.

Thankfully, the Parsi Dairy Farm lived to fight another day and it didn’t close down. However, an enterprise cannot run on nostalgia alone. It needs consumer support and this support comes only when an enterprise stays relevant and reinvents itself. The Parsi Dairy Farm was built on the spirit of enterprise shown by its founder, the late Nariman Ardeshir, and it is only apt that the business reinvents itself today. Now it is up to us to keep the legacy alive.

A viewer asks, “Some people (among theme are some “Quranist” muslims) say that our 5 daily prayers are borrowed from zoroastrianism, because according to the claimants zoroastrians pray 5 daily “namaz” at the same time frames and according to them this is “too much coincidence”. How can we refute this strange theory?” Dr. Shabir Ally shares his answer.

Now, get Roj Conversion / Reminders, Daily Prayers, News and Shop online – right from TheParsiDirectory app on your Mobile. Other new features include Matrimonials & Emergency Contact for Senior Citizens

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Ammad Ali traces the history of an influential community from antiquity up to the colonial Raj and the contemporary era

Note: The words ‘Parsi’ and ‘Zoroastrian’ are often mixed up. ‘Parsi’ is associated more with a geographical identity or anyone who has ancestral roots in Persia, especially those who later migrated to India, while the word ‘Zoroastrian’ refers more to a religious identity.

It was a lustrous Sunday spring morning on the 26th of April 1607. The Palas flowers were in full bloom, flaming orange colourred petals dancing in the gusts of wind to welcome Shahanshah-i-Hindustan to Pothohar. Mughal emperor Nur-ud-din Jahangir, on his return to Kashmir, made his way through the Gakkhars’ country (Pothohar). Regarding his stay somewhere near Rawalpindi, he narrates in his memoirs, the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri:

“On Sunday, the 9th of Muharram, I halted beyond Rawalpindi. This place was founded by a Hindu named ‘Rawal’ and ‘Pindi’ in the Gakkhar tongue [Pothohari Language] means a village.”

Rawal or Rawal Jogis were the earliest settlers and their village, named Rawalan, was exactly at the same place where today the Rawal Dam is located. Not many historical references are available to tell us more about the Rawal Jogis. Where did they come from? How is it that they vanished without a trace? All they have left behind is a conundrum – the existence of this city.

After the annexation of Punjab and its incorporation into British rule, the present cantonment was first occupied by troops of the 53rd Shropshire Regiment of Foot in 1849. Later, Lord Dalhousie declared Rawalpindi a permanent station of the troops during his visit to Punjab in 1851. Rawalpindi, by virtue of its geography, was ideally positioned to provide commanding access to the North West. Soon after the establishment of the cantonment, a town had grown into a city: a new thriving centre for traders who came from different parts of India and employees and craftsmen, providing relatively equal and bright opportunities for all. People from very different cultural and linguistic backgrounds made Rawalpindi their home. The life of the city turned over a new leaf: locals for the first time heard English and Gujarati being spoken. They were introduced to Framji ,Dhanji and Behramji: ‘Parsi’ surnames that they never dealt with earlier. Christians, Jains, Bohras ,Buddhists, Jews and Parsis settled in Rawalpindi. The canvas of the city became colorful and a more pluralistic society emerged.

The Zoroastrians might have been new to Rawalpindi, but they have a long history in the Pothohar region, dating back to antiquity

The Zoroastrians (often called Parsis) might have been new to Rawalpindi, but they have a long history associated with the Pothohar region, dating back to antiquity, when Gandhara was a province of the great Persian empire. The legacy of those times still exists near Rawalpindi: for instance in the Jandial Zoroastrian Fire Temple, a 1st century BC structure built in the Scytho-Parthian period. This is believed to be the temple described by Philostratus in his travelogue The Life of Apollonius of Tyana. The temple is a specimen of classical Hellenic architecture. This temple remained active well into the 6th century AD, until the invasion by the White Huns (Hepthalites).

Rawalpindi and Pothohar thus had close connections with ancient Persian civilisation, being politically a part of the Achaemenid Empire. Greek historian Herodotus mentions Gandhara as the twentieth satrapy (province), counted amongst the most populous and developed in the Achaemenid empire. In the years 486-465 BC, the capital of Gandhara was the famous city of Takshashila, or Taxila.

An epitaph at the Parsi Cemetery

Cyrus the Great, though Zoroastrian in origin, was secular in affairs of state. He himself ruled according to his beliefs, and made no attempt to impose Zoroastrianism on the people of his subject territories. He consolidated the Iranian peoples into a single state that stretched from the north of present-day Turkey to the western banks of the Indus River, which is today located in parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Both Gandhara and Kamboja soon came to be included in this state, which was governed by the Achaemenid Dynasty during the reign of Cyrus the Great. They were integrated into the seventh satrapy of the upper Indus in the Achaemenid Empire. These were the easternmost satrapies. Zoroastrianism from Persia made its impact on the Mahayana sect of Buddhism in this region.